


Toujours mieux tous les deux

by full_time_dreamer_behold



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Better Together: A FitzSimmons Partnered Exchange, Epilepsy, F/M, Fluff, Hospital, Seizures, Traumatic Brain Injury, but don't worry this is still fluff, lifeguard AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-25
Updated: 2015-05-26
Packaged: 2018-04-01 06:48:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4009975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/full_time_dreamer_behold/pseuds/full_time_dreamer_behold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons have been a couple for about a year now, and live in Massachusetts together. When they realize they can't afford a flight back home for the summer, they start looking for a nice, low-stakes job that'll help pay their rent. But though where they end up working is indeed nice, their summer job definitely isn't going to be a piece of cake!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [newbie93](https://archiveofourown.org/users/newbie93/gifts), [etoilesdeglace](https://archiveofourown.org/users/etoilesdeglace/gifts).



> Hey guys :)  
> So this was written as part of the Better Together exchange. My partner lady_smellen and I have had the best of times writing this for silfp and etoilesdeglace :)  
> The title is french for "Better Together", cause I'm very not original and Ellen and I decided to go with languages... Thank you to my wonderful beta its-nora-borealis, thank you thank you thank you. She's the best, guys. And thank you Ellen for beta-ing my story too, and for helping me plan it and write it, and correcting my francophone mistakes (I thought utensil had another s in it??!?!?), and feeding the hilarity of this fic with your weird headcanons and your awesome ideas.  
> Also, you guys have Nora to thank for the ending of this fic, she gave me such a wonderful idea and I'm so glad it turned out to be that :)  
> Okay, I'll stop rambling and let you read. Hope you enjoy this, girls! It was written for you ;)
> 
> This is part 2 of the Birds of a Feather series, but can also be read alone. Ther might be some things you won't understand, though, since it's not made to stand alone. I suggest you go read lady_smellen's part 1 here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/3868246

            Simmons sighed as she walked away from the student residence mailbox, a heavy stack of envelopes in her hands.  She and Fitz had been sharing a studio on campusfor a year now, and everything was going very well. At the end of their summer program, they had moved in together, and adjusting themselves to each other had come as naturally as breathing.

Everything was going very well; Fitz was not the reason for Jemma’s distress.

            She went up the stairs to their apartment, taking a look at every envelope: bills. Those were the reasons of her concern. Their studies at MIT were extremely demanding, both in time and in energy, and they also had to make time to take care of themselves. Between those two very necessary activities, none of them had been able to find time for a job.

Of course, they would survive for the time being. With the scholarship she and Fitz were benefiting from, and the money she’d saved from last year, they were good to last at least a few more months, maybe even until the end of the semester. But what about this summer?

She knew that Fitz missed his mother very much, and she would love to see her family again as soon as possible, but there was no way they could afford to go back home this summer. They would have to stay in Massachusetts and work a full-time job, or they wouldn’t be able to get by next year.

She unlocked the door of the small studio to find Fitz in the kitchen, rummaging through the refrigerator. Amused, she observed as he reached for something, his head halfway inside the fridge. She cleared her throat, causing Fitz to jump and bang his head on the top of the shelf.

“Ow!” he moaned as he extracted his head from the appliance, “Jemma… I didn’t hear you come in.”

She smiled at him and put the envelopes behind her back. She didn’t have the heart to tell him that their phone bills were higher than expected. “So,” she smirked, “you were going to make a snack? Don’t let me stop you.”

Fitz wrung his hands, unsure of what to say, before closing the door of the fridge. “I wasn’t snacking. There’s, um, not much to snack on.”

Jemma cocked her head, brow furrowed. “What do you mean, not much? Not much like ‘pasta night again’, or not much like ‘we have to go to the store’?” 

“Well,” Fitz started miserably, “we’ve got potatoes.”

She forced a smile on her lips. “I was looking if there was something I could make tonight, just to save us a trip to the store,” he continued. “There’s a bit of meat left in the freezer, I could fix us a stew.”

Jemma took a seat at the small kitchen table. “Fitz, we’ve overspent on this month’s phone bills too.” She tried not to pay attention to how dejected he seemed. “If we’re careful, we can probably make it until the end of the semester. But that means… “

“I know. Staying in the U.S. for the summer. Are you sure we can’t…” He let out a huge sigh and looked through the window. “I know. You’re right. It’s just that… I miss the rain.”

A wistful expression shadowed his face. Jemma swallowed hard and got up to embrace him. But when he turned to face her, the sadness was gone. A small smile played on his lips.

“At least, you’re not going anywhere,” he said, kissing the bridge of her nose.

She was going to reply with something witty, but her stomach did that for her, gurgling impressively. They both laughed, then Fitz nudged her towards the bathroom.

“Go take a shower and when you’re done, dinner will be ready.”

“There’s an advert in my bag, since some places are already recruiting for summer jobs. I found one that might be just what we need,” Jemma told him as she headed to the bathroom. “Have you ever worked at an outdoor swimming pool?”

 


	2. Chapter 2

The job was perfect. They would get to work desk job hours, have a good salary and it was only a few minutes away. Not to mention that they would be together, doing something they loved.

The illusion of perfection melted away a bit when they showed up for their formation day and the pool was still empty, full of dry leaves and organic waste, and the surrounding park was muddy and full of litter. It didn’t help that there was nobody there to welcome them.

“Do you think they should be here by now?” asked Fitz, checking his watch.

“I don’t know, Fitz. They’re probably late,” she pointed out hopefully.

“Maybe we’re at the wrong place,” Fitz mumbled, and Jemma promptly protested.

“We’ve been through this, Fitz. I looked at it on a map. Maps don’t lie. They must be late.”

“Then how do you explain that there’s no other employees?” Fitz objected. “There has to be other people working at this pool. We can’t possibly be the only employees-”

“Fitz, look!” Jemma shushed him. A short, gawky thirty-something  was jogging towards them. They could hear the jingling of his keychain and his heavy feet slamming against the concrete.

“Hi guys, sorry I’m late,” he said, opening the door for them. Only when they were both inside did he shake their hands and present himself with a thick London accent. “Lance Hunter, I’m the head lifeguard of this magical place.”

Fitz and Simmons threw him a perplexed look. “Where are all the others?” Fitz asked, releasing the man’s hand.

“The others? You mean employees?” Hunter replied, and both young students nodded emphatically. “Ah, that’s gonna be just you and me, guys. We don’t have that many employees because we don’t get many clients. We’re all going to be working full-time here. It’s nice, you’ll see. Plus, it’s a British pool!” he continued with enthusiasm.

“What do you mean, a British pool?” Simmons inquired.

“Well, the three of us are brits! Doesn’t happen often in Massachusetts, don’t you think? Honestly, why else do you think I hired you,” he joked. “No, really, you’ll see. It’s gonna be fun. The pool’s got its faithful clientele, and the neighbourhood appreciates our work. Plus, we’re going to be a small team, and that’s always nice.”

They followed him as he unlocked the door and turned on the lights inside the cabin, leading them through the changing rooms and inside the lifeguards’ locker room.

“You guys can put your stuff here, then we’ll start working on the pool after that.”

Fitz and Simmons shared a look, and she worried: “I thought this was going to be a formation day?”

“Well, if you applied for the job, I’m assuming you already know how to be lifeguards, so I’m not gonna teach you that,” Hunter retorted, winking. “Anyway, we’ll have a few days to review that once summer really kicks in. But CPR won’t be all you’ll be doing. Part of our job is keeping the swimmers safe, but the other part is taking care of the pool. We’ll all have to do some maintenance, and that’s exactly what we’ll be doing today.”

Jemma tapped her fingers on her bag. Of course, that wasn’t what they were expecting. But she was getting a good vibe from Hunter, and even though the pool was dirty and empty and muddy, it would become better over the summer, and… hold on.

“Wait, wait… mister Hunter?” she protested.

He turned around. “Please, just Lance. What is it?”

“Well, the pool is empty,” she declared. After a short silence and an amused look from his end, she went on. “We can’t work on that pool yet. It’s full of mud and dirt.”

“Five points to hufflepuff!” Lance smirked. “Sorry guys, the blue collars aren’t doing this for us. That is exactly why I wanted you here today. There’s no way I’m raking those leaves all by myself.”

“Do you mean we…” Fitz started, aghast.

“Yep. We’re waking this old swimming hole from a long winter of being useless. Grab a rake and a plastic bag, and down we go!” Lance cheered, setting a sun-bleached baseball cap on his head.

 

They worked together for almost four hours before the pool was clean enough to add water, but the atmosphere was cheerful. Hunter’s conversation, snarky, a bit sarcastic and full of bad jokes – including puns –, made the time pass quickly. For some reason, he made Fitz and Simmons feel very welcome, and they appreciated that. So they chatted for the best part of the morning, and when the sun reached its peak, they decided to stop.

“The pool will be ready to fill up when we get back,” Lance breathed as he went up the ladder. “Do you guys wanna go grab lunch?”

They both nodded enthusiastically, and Fitz’s stomach grumbled so loud that Simmons heard it from up the ladder.

As Lance drove them to the nearest fast-food restaurant, he couldn’t help but notice that both of his new employees had automatically taken the back seat.

“Nobody called shotgun? Do I have bad breath, or…” he teased. He could not resist making them slightly uncomfortable before continuing: “Guys, I’ve noticed that you had the same address on your resumes, not to mention the way you always stand by each other. Are you two lovebirds? I feel like that’s something I should know.”

Fitz looked at Jemma, then answered: “Yeah. We met in California, where we were part of the same lifeguard training program. After, Jemma came to join me at MIT, and we moved in together.”

“Oh,” giggled Hunter from the front seat, “Of all the brits in Massachusetts, I managed to fall on a two-in-one package . This is gonna be fun.” Then, after a moment of silent driving, he mumbled “For what it’s worth, you seem like decent people to me… just keep your hands off each other back there.”

 

When they came back at the pool, Hunter made a stop in the large shed near the entrance. He grabbed a handful of different chemicals and made his way towards Fitz and Simmons. He aligned the containers on the ground near the pool and sat behind them.

Jemma and Fitz exchanged a smirk, and let Hunter explain patiently how every chemical worked and how it was used in public swimming pools.

"And this," he went on, picking up a small grey bottle," adds calcium to the water. That's a very important bit, because if we don't give the water the calcium it needs, well, it'll start chipping off bits of the pool."

He looked at the both of them. Jemma was wearing a slightly smug smile, while Fitz didn't seem to be really listening. "Are you guys gonna remember this?" he asked, annoyed.

"Of course, Lance," Jemma reassured. "Remember, we've done a number of chemistry classes before, Fitz and I."

Lance rolled his eyes. "Right. I forgot about that.”

He got up and proceeded to show them a white board in their locker room. "Okay, so that's what you're gonna want to watch: PH levels at 7.3, total alkalinity from 80 to 120, calcium hardness from 150 ppm to 250 ppm and chlorine from 1 ppm to 3 ppm. You'll need to check those levels twice a day, during the maintenance breaks. Of course, I don't need to tell you that you should really keep away from the water until the chemicals have cleared a bit."

Jemma nodded emphatically. Then, Hunter showed them around the large pipes and hoses inside the machine room, and they filled the pool with water and poured...

"A ridiculously large amount of chemicals, Lance! There is no way you need all that chlorine." Jemma worried.

"Hey, science princess, I don't do it with a measuring cup. In my experience, you have to put more chlorine when you work with clear water, because some of it evaporates without having an effect," Hunter objected.

Jemma turned a questioning look towards Fitz, who was apparently captivated by something that was going on in the park.

When he realized he was being observed, Fitz pointed at two small shapes that were playing in the park. One was a little girl, and the other one was, apparently, a gigantic and intimidating German shepherd.

"They've been in the park for a while now, and the dog doesn't seem to have a leash, nor the kid a parent..." he pondered.

"Oh, she's just a kid from the neighbourhood. That's her dog." Lance assured. "Never seen her with a mum or dad. She comes by to play here nearly every day." When Fitz's worry seemed to increase, Lance insisted. "Look, we can't tell her parents how to take care of her. She's a nice kid, and she takes good care of her dog. That's enough for me."

 


	3. Chapter 3

They were now in possession of a set of keys, and today was the first day during which the pool would be opened to clients. It had been two weeks now since they had met Hunter, and the three of them had quickly become friends. That process had been  accelerated by Lance's easygoingness, and of course, a few beers at his place. Fitz and Simmons were starting to think that they had probably found the best job in town, and that it was going to be a very fun summer.

Both of them arrived early to take time to get accustomed to the place before the swimmers arrived. Fitz set up the cash register as Jemma verified the pool water. Hunter arrived late, as usual, dropping some sheets of paper from his pad as he jogged through the park. Fitz, who was now perched on the lifeguard's chair, could see him attempting to catch them, and the sheets flying in three different directions. Then, out of a bush jumped a massive German shepherd, and the little girl from yesterday shouted at the canine. Soon, the little girl had a sheet of paper, and her dog had caught one as well. When Lance finally caught the rest, the dog had brought the paper to the little girl, and she was smoothing it out, wiping his saliva off it. She handed the papers to Hunter, who stayed a few seconds to talk with her, then checked his watch and started running again.

"That was nice, wasn't it?" Jemma smiled. She had been watching the scene too, since there weren't any swimmers yet in the pool.

He looked at her and nodded, then they were distracted by the sight of a potential client passing by the gates.

"I'm going to go mind the registry since Hunter's not there yet and people are arriving," she sighed. 

This was exciting, getting to deal with their first client of the year. She opened the cash register and proudly took a tall black man's two dollars, welcoming him and directing him towards the men's changing room with her warmest smile. The man eyed her suspiciously and she realized he had a glass eye. At that moment, Hunter's loud footsteps resonated on the concrete. Jemma gave him a knowing smirk. He rolled his eyes and caught his breath.

"Okay," he said, shuffling through his pad, only to get out a sheet of paper full of dog saliva and hand it to her. "This is your schedule for the week. Sorry for the teeth holes in it."

"I hope Fitz's is in a better state," she teased.

"Well, don't hold your breath," he retorted. "Anyway, I'm here now. You can go back to minding the pool, I'll take care of the clients." As she left, he added: "Thanks for covering for me!"

 

Hunter was on register duty until mid-day, then it would be Jemma's turn, then Fitz's.

When she came back into the pool's enclosure, Jemma did a double-take. It was absurd, she couldn’t have seen what she thought she had seen. She went back inside the locker room and closed her eyes. She looked at Fitz. There was no one in the pool yet, so he was watching the little girl play with her dog. He hadn’t seen… what she had seen.

Gathering up her strength, she walked towards the tall man with a glass eye. He was organizing his stuff on the side of the pool. She cleared her throat.

“Excuse me, erm… mister…”

He turned his head and shot her an annoyed look. “Fury. What is it?”

“…Mister Fury. I am, erm, afraid I can’t let you go in the water like that,” she apologized.

“What is it?”

“…proper swimwear is required by the pool’s regulation,” she murmured, getting smaller with every word she was saying.

He looked at her, eyebrows raised, and she realized she would have to say it bluntly.

“Sir, I can’t let you go in the pool in your underwear.” Her cheeks reddened as she said it.

He choked indignantly. “This, lady, is not underwear,” he said, pointing at the fabric on his crotch. “This is a _speedo_.”

Now that she was looking closely, it did indeed seem made of swimsuit fabric. She closed her eyes in embarrassment, preparing to apologize to the man, but when she opened them again, he was huffing and walking towards the pool.

…She would never survive this embarrassment. 

 

A few hours later and the pool was already at the half of its maximal capacity. Jemma had climbed on the second lifeguard chair, and Fitz concentrating on the surveillance of the first half of the pool. It was much harder now that there were not only a lot of people swimming, but also a lot of people on the side, walking, talking, and…

“No running, please!” he yelled for the third time. This was getting ridiculous, why couldn’t people understand such a simple rule?

When he turned his head towards the pool again, he froze. No. That guy could NOT be serious. He watched, powerless, as a chubby man in his mid-fourties ran all along the side of the pool, then jumped and did the largest cannonball Fitz had ever seen. There was water all over the place now, and the man had nearly submerged a couple of children.

Fitz grabbed his whistle and gave a sharp tut. A few heads turned to face him. He waved the guilty man so that he would come closer, then asked him: “What’s your name?”

“Eric Koenig. Why, did I do something wrong?” he asked.

“Actually, yes,” accused Fitz. “First of all, running is forbidden on the side of the pool. You should also refrain from doing any cannonballs when there are so many people around. You nearly fell on a child.”

The man looked horrified. “I’m so sorry, man. I won’t do it again,” he nodded. “I didn’t think about it.”

“It’s fine,” Fitz amended. “Just don’t do it again.”

This job was surprisingly exhausting. He stole a quick look towards Jemma to check if she was doing fine. She seemed to be extremely concentrated on the swimmers. He smiled and went back to doing the same.

 

Jemma was indeed very absorbed in her job, but one client had caught her attention. He was a grown man with an obvious limp. Walking very close to him was a curly-haired little boy. Often, the parents would stay on the side of the pool, barely there to keep an eye on their progeny. But the father nudged his quiet child towards the water before going back inside to change. When he got out of the changing rooms, Jemma could clearly see that he was wearing a prosthetic leg. He put on an inflatable swimming aid and carefully eased himself into the water.

She smiled as the child paddled towards his dad cheerfully.  Then, she was poked with a pool noodle. She turned, annoyed, only to see Lance smirking at her.

“Hey, science princess. Your turn at the registry,” he teased.

She sighed and climbed down the ladder, then made her way to the entrance.

The day was going pretty fast, all things considered. She grabbed her lunch and went to the front of the changing rooms, then unlocked the cash register.

Jemma could only see the parking lot from where she was, but she could still hear the dog barking and playing with the little girl. She must have been up for a while now, running around the place. Wasn’t she hungry?

After an hour, most people had left the pool for dinner, and it was quite empty. Both Lance and Fitz had come to chat to her a bit, one at a time. Still, Jemma was regretting not having brought a book. Maybe Fitz could tweak that old radio? Hunter had told them it didn’t work anymore, but…

“Hello”, a little girl’s voice piped.

Jemma sat up and slightly bent herself over the desk. Before it was standing an adorable little girl with messy hair and curious eyes.

“Lance told me go bother Jemma instead. Are you Jemma?”

Jemma smiled and nodded. “Yes, that’s me. What’s your name?”

“Skye.” She pointed at the large dog waiting patiently beside her: “And that’s Ward.”

“Nice to meet you, Skye,” Jemma said, then turning to the dog, added : “And you too, Ward.”

“He can’t understand when you talk,” Skye explained.

“Oh.” Jemma obviously had no experience whatsoever with kids that age.

Skye stretched the hem of her shirt, then she grabbed Ward by the neck and brought him closer to Jemma’s desk. “You can pet him if you like,” she proposed.

Flattered, Jemma bent down and gave Ward a few pats on the head. He did indeed seem like a good dog.

“So, Skye,” Jemma went on, “what are you doing today?”

Skye was fiddling with the hem of her shirt. She rarely looked Jemma in the eyes.

“I was running with Ward. We found a dead bird in the park.”

Jemma didn’t quite know what to answer to that, so instead, she went for a question. “What did you do with it?”

“Ward took it. I don’t know where he put it.” Skye stated, unfazed.

Jemma gave Ward a strange look, to which the dog only responded by sniffing Skye’s boots.

“I had a dragonfly earlier, but she went away,” began Skye. “I think she was looking for water.”

Not questioning the logic behind that statement, Jemma nodded. Then, she noticed the dog’s heavy panting. “Do you think Ward here might want some water too? It’s pretty hot outside.”

Skye nodded : “He likes cold water!”

Jemma knew better than to give the dog ice cold water. Instead, she took her sandwich container and poured him some room temperature water from the girls’ changing rooms.

“You know, Skye, ice cold water can be bad for a dog that’s feeling very hot, like Ward. It might make a too big temperature difference in his stomach,” she tried to explain.

Skye shook her head: “ That’s not true.” But Jemma noticed that she was eyeing Ward worriedly.

“Don’t worry, the water I gave him is a bit warm. He’ll like it.”

The little girl nodded, her eyes still on her large companion.

Jemma looked at the both of them for awhile, then dug inside her lunchbox and got out a little bag of crackers.

“Are you hungry, Skye?”

Skye tore her eyes off Ward and looked at Jemma.

“Do you want those?” Jemma asked. “They’re cheese crackers.”

Skye checked behind her, then gave Jemma an inquiring look. She furrowed her brows and said: “Are they poison?”

Jemma couldn’t help but laugh. Skye was having the right reaction. She was, after all, offered food by a stranger. “Of course not. They’re my favourite crackers! Do you want them?”

“They’re your favourite. You can keep them,” Skye muttered.

Jemma thought for a second, then bent down closer to Skye and pseudo-whispered “Yeah, they’re my favourite. But I’ve already had 3 packages today, and I’m not hungry for the fourth. Do you want it?”

Skye nodded and grabbed the bag. Then, she proceeded to open it and give a handful of them to Ward. Jemma winced; that wasn’t exactly the best diet for a dog. But then again, such a small quantity couldn’t hurt.

Of course, Jemma was curious about the kid’s parents, why she had such a close relationship with that massive dog, why she spend the whole day outside and why she didn’t seem to have a lunch. It was nearly two o’clock, and no sign of a parent yet. But she thought better to get to know the girl before asking any more questions.

Skye seemed to have appreciated Jemma’s crackers because as soon as she finished them, she was much more friendly towards the lifeguard. The little girl chatted to Jemma, changing the subject every so often. They discussed the park for a little while, then they talked about music (which was when Jemma discovered that they shared music tastes… who would have known?), and the conversation ended with a lengthy explanation of various insects that Skye had found. Soon after Skye learnt what the difference between a centipede and a millipede was (and her subsequent realization that she preferred millipedes), Fitz came by to replace Jemma at the registry.

“Skye, look. This is my friend Fitz. He’s going to mind the registry now, but I’m sure you two will get along quite well,” Jemma reassured.

“Oh don’t worry,” declared Fitz, “we already do, actually”. He smiled at Skye and took Jemma’s place at the counter.

“His name’s Leopold,” Skye observed.

“Absolutely,” Fitz chimed. He turned to Jemma and explained: “Skye came to talk with me and Lance over the fence earlier.”

At that moment, Hunter went for them. “Sorry lovebirds, but it’s maintenance break. Simmons, come and help me with the chemicals.” Jemma smiled at Fitz and Skye and joined Hunter at the pool.

When Fitz turned to see Skye again, the little girl was gaping.

“You two are _married_?!”

 

Skye stayed for a few more minutes, then ran away when Ward went off chasing a squirrel and never really came back. Fitz was slightly worried for that kid, but she seemed to be doing fine for now. He just wished she had accepted to eat the cheese crackers he had offered her.

Soon, more people arrived. It was peak hour now, in the afternoon, and a lot of sweaty teenagers were starting to arrive. Fitz chatted a bit with some of them (the nice ones anyway), and time passed rather quickly.

By the time the clock hit four, though, the flow had stopped. He was lucky if there was one person every ten minutes. He was starting to regret not bringing a book.

An old man, around seventy years old and his hair as white as snow, was approaching the counter. Thanking him in his mind for the distraction, Fitz put on his warmest smile and welcomed the man.

“Hello, young man,” the senior greeted with a slight German accent. “May I come in?”

“Of course, sir! It’ll be two dollars.”

The man’s smile faltered. “Even for me?”

Fitz offered him an apologetic look. “Yes! Sorry sir, we have no special fares. The pool has only a single fee.”

“But I paid my entrance fee last time. Can’t I come in for free now?” the man insisted.

“I’m sorry, sir” reasoned Fitz. “I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that.”

The man furrowed his brow and looked inside his wallet. “I only have a one-dollar bill… Can’t you let an old man like me in?”

Fitz could clearly see that there was more than one dollar bill in there. He was starting to get annoyed at the old man’s behaviour.

“Look, mister…”

“Daniel Whitehall-”

“…mister Whitehall, I’m sure you’ll understand that my job at the cash registry is to make sure that everyone pays the same fee to get in. That way, it’s fair for everyone. I’m very sorry for any inconvenience that might cause,” Fitz stated.

“Listen here, young man. I don’t think you’re giving me the respect I deserve. When I was your age, I would never have talked like that to one of my elders.”

Fitz sighed. “I apologize if I came off rude. It’s just against our rules to let people come in without having paid the fee first.”

“The manager always gives me a discount. You should be ashamed of yourself, young man. I always get the same discount, every time I come in here. He might get very mad if he realizes that you’re being so insolent.”

Fitz now knew that the man was lying. First of all, not many people would call Lance a manager, and it was highly unlikely that Lance would give a discount to such an obnoxious old man. A slight smirk ghosted on Fitz’s face as he imagined Hunter putting that old fart back in his place.

“Well, if you want, mister Whitehall… I can call my manager.”

“It’s the least you can do.” The man answered pompously.

Oh, Fitz was going to enjoy seeing that.

When he got back with Hunter on his heels, though, the man was gone. Apparently, the idea of meeting the manager that he “knew so well” didn’t appeal to him one bit. Hunter had a good laugh, though, when Fitz told him what had happened.

“Listen, mate,” he began, “I’ve started to know you a bit during those few weeks. You’re a good, polite employee and I trust your judgment.” He smirked, then, and gave Fitz a slap on the back: “So if some customer ever comes to me to complain about how rude you were… I’ll know right away that they were being a dickwad. So don’t be afraid to pull those jerks’ heads out of their asses, okay?”

He left after that, but Fitz could hear him sniggering with the echo that the changing rooms provided.

Closing time arrived at last. Skye had mysteriously disappeared, and Ward with her. All the clients were gone, they had found two swimming trunks, a pair of diving goggles and two lonely socks in the changing rooms, and the cash registry added up. Overall, as Hunter had summarized it, “a routine day on the job”.

When the guy was gone and Simmons got out her key to lock the place down, she and Fitz looked at each other and let out a huge sigh.

“Same thing tomorrow, then?” Fitz asked her, eyebrows raised.

“… people are so weird,” she wondered.

“Tell me about it,” he smiled.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

Fitz packed his and Jemma’s lunch for the next day, and he took care to put not one, but two bags of cheese crackers in it, knowing in whose stomach yesterday’s had disappeared. He and Jemma took an early-morning walk on the road to the pool, ready for another day of work. Yesterday had been pretty rich in all sorts of emotions for both of them, but they had agreed that it was because it had been their first day. Today would probably be easier, since they weren’t as nervous (and both knew what speedos were).

Rookie mistake: their morning had been just as exhausting. To be fair, they had both gotten used to sitting in classrooms or in labs, and if their memory and concentration skills were sharp as a blade, they were at a loss when a group of kids from day camp barged in around nine. The camp counsellors were completely useless, standing on the side of the pool, barely watching over their pupils. Jemma had to go and tell them they needed to be in the pool with their kids, at which the counsellors had the nerves to look offended. 

Fitz stole a glance at her, then turned to look if Skye was still in the park. They had crossed her path this morning, and the little girl had greeted them with excitement. Fitz was determined to get to know her better, and to see if he could help, because even though she did not seem like a neglected child (she wore clean clothes and her long curly hair was well combed), some things just didn’t seem right to him. Shaking those thoughts out of his head, he focused back on the pool. Couldn’t have those kids dunking each other's heads underwaterwhen the camp counsellors weren’t watching…

The minute he turned his face back to the swimmers, a bewildered “ _no_ ” escaped his lips. There he was, that same man as yesterday, _running_ towards the pool… to make a _cannonball_. Fitz was aghast as the man jumped with a “YeeEEEEHAAAA,” cry, and he leaned forward, powerless, as a giant SPLOOSH made everybody’s head turn. Grabbing his whistle, he scanned frenetically to see if to see if any swimmers had found themselves caught in the pudgy man's warpath,then let his anger take over his worry. Blowing a loud sharp whistle, he motioned the man to come see him.

“What did you say your name was?” Fitz snapped.

The man looked startled, and his grinning face faded a bit. “ Uhhh, Billy Koenig, why?”

“Listen here, mister Koenig. We talked about this yesterday. No running on the side of the pool, and no cannonballs. Can’t you see how many people you could have hurt right then?”

Koenig’s mouth opened wide, and he looked as if he was going to protest, but Fitz pointed to the pool and the man’s face fell.

“Right, oh my god, I’m so sorry! I hope nobody got hurt…”

“Yeah, well, you said that yesterday. Now, that was an important safety rule, and if you ever break it again, there will be consequences, mister Koenig.”

The man looked ashamed, yet still a bit confused. Fitz hoped the message had gotten across.

When he sat back in his chair, he saw Jemma looking at him. She offered him a small encouraging smile, and he smiled back at her. Honestly, the day was so much better knowing that she was with him.

 

The day dragged on and noon came around. Jemma had seen Fitz berate the same man as yesterday. She sighed internally: people weren’t careful enough. Lance had even told her about one time when a woman had brought her five year old child in the deep water, and when he had asked if the child could swim, she had blurted, “Of course not, but that’s why you’re here!” No, being a lifeguard here definitely wasn’t an easy job, but she liked observing the oddities of humankind.

Her stomach grumbled. Soon, Lance would come to relieve her from the chair and she could eat at the in the office. Maybe, if she was lucky, Skye would be there. Speaking of which, she had observed that the kid was playing much closer to the pool today than she was yesterday. She kept eyeing curiously the other children, who were laughing and throwing water at each other. Jemma thought Skye might want to play in the pool too.

A few minutes later, Hunter was climbing up the chair. She grabbed her lunch bag, waved at Fitz, and went near the gates of the pool. She meant to wave at Skye before going to eat so that she could join her, but suddenly, her nose caught a whiff of what seemed to be cigarette smoke. 

Turning around to spot where the smell was coming from, she saw a man in his swimming trunks, leaning against the gate of the pool… smoking. Bewildered, Jemma walked to him. She put on an apologetic smile but her voice was determined.

“I’m sorry sir, but smoking is prohibited on the side of the pool, as this is a smoke-free area..-”

The man looked at her and didn’t say anything, but the look in his eyes showed such contempt that Jemma started stuttering. She regained her composure, with more authority this time.

“I’m sure you’ll understand that I have to ask you to extinguish this cigarette,” she went on.

He smiled at her, but it was fake. “Listen, darling, with the taxes I pay for this pool, I think I can smoke wherever the hell I want.”

Jemma was dumbfounded. The man was still wet from the pool water, and smoking near children, in a public area, and he was speaking to her like _that_?

“I’m sorry sir, but that’s not how it works. Now will you extinguish this cigarette please?”

“It’s a cigarillo. And no. Besides, it’s not like you can do anything about it. The city needs people like me.  You’re not the one paying for all this.” He continued: “I have a lawyer’s salary, and you probably don’t even have one.”

He pulled a puff out of his cigarillo and blew it far too close to Jemma’s face. Now, that was enough. She crossed her arms and looked him in the eye, remembering what Lance had told Fitz yesterday about putting dickheads back in their place.

“I see that you are determined to keep your distorted vision of how society works, but I will have to ask you to take it outside this enclosure if you are not going to extinguish this cigarette and throw it in the bin in the next minute,” she snapped.

“Honey, you can’t say that to me. I’m a lawyer, remember? I can sue your asses out of this place, ” he insisted. “Ian Quinn. Look me up. I don’t think you’d want to irk me.”

“Sir, no fire of any kind is allowed on the side of the pool. If I smell smoke when I come back, I will have to do what needs to be done,” Jemma retorted, not amused.

“You do just that, baby,” he winked, and that was it for Jemma. The cash register would have to wait. She walked towards the lifeguards’ cupboard. She saw Hunter looking at her with his brow furrowed, and when he met her eyes, he gave a small nod. _Give him hell_.

She rummaged through their safety cupboard and grabbed the fire extinguisher. Then, coming back towards the man, she said loudly to Hunter “I can smell fire! Can’t you, Lance?” to which Hunter approved, yelling “I do, Jemma! _Please_ , take care of it quick _in any way you can_! This is a _serious safety issue_!”

Quinn’s eyes doubled in size as he saw her coming with the fire extinguisher. “What are you doing?” he yelped.

“Sir, I am asking you to throw this smoking object to the ground so that I can eliminate the _threat_ it poses!” Jemma proclaimed.

“No, no way! It’s not a _threat_ , it’s a cigarillo-” he spat, but Jemma didn’t give him the time to continue. She squeezed the handle and foam splattered everywhere.  Quinn let out a terrified shriek and recoiled from the spray.  Jemma heard Hunter’s roar of laughter and Fitz’s gasp, then said, matter-of-factly: “Phew. That was a close call, don’t you think, mister Quinn? A few seconds more and it could have burnt your lip…”

“WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?” he yelled, wiping away the foam from his face. Nothing had gone into his eyes, since he’d shielded them, but the man definitely looked like he had a large Santa Claus beard going down to his swimming trunks.

“Now, mister Quinn, can I do anything to help? You must be in shock, after all this excitement.”

“You,” Quinn seethed, “are going to hear from me.” He brushed a handful of foam from his shoulders, boiling with rage. “I want a refund.”

Jemma offered him her best smile. “Of course, sir, our very best customer service for you. I will give you back your two dollars. After all, you need that money, since lawyers pay so much taxes for this pool…” 

 

The man was gone, and now worry was starting to creep into Jemma’s stomach. Of course, Quinn was the one who had been in the wrong, and she had only been following safety procedures… though a bit literally. Hunter had given her the biggest bear hug when he got down for maintenance break. He’d said “Jemma, I’ve been a lifeguard for a very long time, and I have always wondered why we needed a fire extinguisher, in a pool of all places. But I have learnt today, and I will never, EVER again underestimate the power of foam.”

No, there was no way she could be reprimanded for what she had done; the facts were against Quinn. But she couldn’t believe, no matter how hard she wanted to, that the man would let go so easily.

She was chewing on that thought anxiously, alone at the cash register. She’d finished eating now, and she didn’t have much of an appetite anyway. Now, she couldn’t really read her book, too much on the rush of adrenaline, but she would have begged for a distraction.

It seemed like she was getting lucky at last, because she had a visitor. A small, curly-haired boy got out of the changing rooms, then gave her an enormous grin and scuttled back inside. He got out a few minutes later, dragging his father by the hand. He was the man who Jemma had seen the day before, the one with the prosthetic leg. She smiled at him and he did the same, nudging his son to come say hi.

“Ace is very shy,” he said in a warm voice, looking over at the kid, “but I think it’s because you’re his new hero.”

“Is that so?” chuckled Jemma. “Why would that be?”

The man’s face split into an even bigger smile. “He’s very impressed by how you… handled mister Quinn’s situation.” The man winked. “And between you and me, that was pretty heroic. Or at least spectacular.”

Jemma flustered and worried: “Oh, I’m not sure if he should idolize me for that. What I did was pretty impulsive. I could perhaps have acted another way.”

“Trust me, lady. I know Quinn, and what you did just insured that we would probably never see him at this pool again. Anyway, it’s not like he doesn’t have enough money for a private one…” The man held out his hand. “I’m Mike Peterson, and this is my son Ace. We’ve been having some neighbour trouble with Quinn lately, so I want to thank you for what you did today.”

Jemma’s worry faded with the newfound support. She shook his hand and smiled at Ace. “So, Ace,” she began, “do you come here often with your dad?”

The child gripped his father’s hand tighter and scooted closer to him, but did not break eye contact with Jemma. He gave her a small nod.

“Ace and I are regulars here,” Mike answered, lifting his son in his arms. “Ace is five, so he’s learning how to swim, and I’m relearning how to walk! We’re doing it together, ‘cause we’re a team.”

That sounded like something he would have told his son often. Jemma smiled at the idea. The kid must be in total admiration, with such an amazing dad.

Mike continued, this time more directed at Jemma: “There was an accident at the factory where I used to work at. Damaged my leg. Now, I’m doing physiotherapy, and swimming helps my limp, so Ace and I come here every day while I’m still on paid leave.”

Jemma’s heart swelled with empathy. “You’re very brave,” she said to Mike. Then, turning to Ace, she repeated : “Your dad is very brave, isn’t he?”

Ace nodded. Then, a barking noise caught his attention, and the little boy’s head spun. He tugged on Mike’s sleeve and whispered “Dad”.

“Right, buddy. We’re going to say hello to Skye, then we’ll go back home. Okay?” he answered. Turning to Jemma, he reassured: “We’ll be here tomorrow. Have a nice day! And don’t worry about Quinn too much. You did the right thing.”

With a wink and a smile, he was gone, and Jemma was alone again until Fitz poked her on the shoulder. “So,” he said. “Extinguisher Woman, here to save the day? My turn at the registrar,” he joked.

She rolled her eyes and pecked him on the cheek. “Give the cheese crackers to Skye if she comes to see you,” she said. “And thank you for the sandwich, it was delicious.”

Fitz looked at her, unimpressed. “It’s because it’s _your_ recipe, Jem.”

“Right,” she remembered. “Oh well. I’m allowed to forget stuff sometimes, aren’t I?”

“Be careful your brain doesn’t roast under the sun today! You’ve already lost enough brain capacity at this point,” he teased.

Jemma nudged him toward her chair and went back to the pool’s enclosure, where she waved at Hunter and climbed on the lifeguard chair.

 

Fitz was happy to see that Jemma was more cheerful, because she had really seemed devastated during maintenance break. Of course, it was very unlike Jemma to do a thing like emptying a fire extinguisher on a rich client… but he was sure the client had given her reason enough to do it. Probably more than necessary, to be honest.

He got bored quickly, since it was a lazy few hours with not many clients. Jemma had brought a book, but he had nothing to do… Maybe if he could tinker with that old broken radio in the corner, it would keep his fingers busy. He was just about to get it off the shelf when he heard Skye and Ward running on the concrete.

He leaned forwards to stick his head through the door. “Hey Skye! Come to visit me?” he exclaimed.

“Ace is gone home,” she said, as if it needed no context at all.

“Who’s Ace?” Fitz asked.

“A friend,” she retorted, climbing on the counter. “Where’s Jemma?”

“She’s on the chair, keeping an eye on swimmers so that they stay safe!”

“Oh.” Skye fiddled with the hem of her shirt a bit. “Do you have some crackers?” she asked.

“Absolutely!” Fitz chirped.

“Oh.” Skye looked at her feet while Fitz rummaged through Jemma’s lunchbox.

Fitz lifted his head up and saw that Skye was uncomfortable with asking for the crackers. “Hey, do you know what?” he whispered. The child leaned in curiously. “I think I even have some for you!”

Her face lit up. “Are you sure?” she said.

“Of course I am! Here you go, fresh from the lunchbox,” he cooed as he handed her the bag.

He watched as she diligently gave Ward half of the bag. He thought now might be the time to ask her about more personal stuff.

“Skye, do you know what Jemma is studying right now?” he asked.

Skye had a moment of thought, then said “Science?”

Fitz grinned proudly. “That’s right. She knows a lot about humans. And do you know what she tells me every day?”

“What?” the girl uttered between two mouthfuls of crackers.

“She tells me that it’s important to eat well.”

“I eat well,” Skye protested.

“Jemma tells me that to grow up strong, every kid needs a lot of different foods, because different foods do different things to the body. For example, fruits and vegetables help to give vitamins, meat gives proteins to build muscles…” he wasn’t sure how to bring this to a child, but Skye seemed to understand so far… until she put up her hand in a ‘stop’ gesture.

“Jemma is already grown up. You two are old.” Skye corrected.  


Fitz begged to differ, but he continued anyway: “Yes, she’s all grown up now, but that’s because she ate very well when she was a child.”

From then on, he wasn’t sure where to go in this discussion without making the kid uncomfortable. Skye munched, thoughtful, then she was the one to break the silence.

“What will crackers bring to the body?” she asked.

Ah. There was his moment to tell her. “Well, you see, Skye… crackers taste very good, and they fill up your stomach, but that’s about it. And that doesn’t make them bad… but if you only eat crackers, then you’re missing out on all the good things that other foods can give you!” he lectured.

Skye shook her head vigorously. “I don’t only eat crackers. I ate an apple this morning!”

Fitz leaned back, a little relieved. “Good! What else did you eat?”

“Well, I wasn’t hungry, but my mom made me eat a peanut butter-banana toast before she left.”

“Good, good. And where was she going?” he inquired. He felt like he was prying, but it was justified: he just wanted to make sure the kid was okay.

“At work!” Skye exclaimed. “She works a lot this week. And the week before.” The little girl observed.

Well, at least, Fitz knew that Skye was in good hands. The little girl spun the conversation around: “Why were there tons of kids in the pool this morning?” she recalled.

“There was a day camp. The camp counsellors decided to bring the kids to the pool today,” Fitz explained.

Skye stayed silent for a little while, then called back Ward, who had gone sniffing a bit too far to her taste (even though the dog never seemed to leave her side). When he came back, she turned to talk to Fitz, determined.

“Can I go to the pool too?”

Fitz was not expecting that question… although, in retrospect, maybe he should have had. Seeing all the other children having fun in the pool, and not being able to go there herself.

“Well,” he began, “You have to be wearing a swimsuit to get in. And it costs two dollars.”

Skye nodded. “So if I have that, I’ll be able to go in the pool?”

“Yeah!” Fitz chirped. “Just be sure to tell your mom,” he added as an afterthought.

“I will!” the kid said, running off towards the park.

Fitz knew he had probably made her day with that announcement. And also probably Jemma’s crackers.

Closing time came, Hunter gave a last reassuring talk to Jemma about Quinn (it was hard to take him seriously, since he kept giggling), and Fitzsimmons walked home together, telling each other about their day, and the people they had met.

“Mike told me that Quinn wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon,” Jemma reasoned, but she seemed uncertain.

“Yeah, Jemma. Quinn’s an imbecile, and he probably won’t be bothered to sue us knowing he’ll lose.”

“But Fitz, if ever he were to, we don’t have the money for a lawyer!” Jemma worried.

“It probably won’t go there! Worse thing that can happen? He’ll file a complaint to the city. Saying that you didn’t allow him to smoke on the side of the pool. What do you think they’ll do with that? You’ve got me, Hunter and another client backing you up in this. You’ll be fine.”

“Yeah. We’ll see.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 coming tomorrow, just to give you the time to digest this one (aaaand last minute arrangements on the last 2 chapters :)  
> Stay tuned!


	5. Chapter 5

The worse was behind them, Jemma told herself as she woke up the next morning. Nothing could be worse than the day before... there was no way Quinn would come back, and the other clients were all decent people. Maybe she’d even get to chat with Mike again. Today could only be more enjoyable, more laid-back than yesterday…

She was wrong.

Walking towards the pool together, she and Fitz were chatting about Skye, when Jemma saw a white envelope taped to the door of the changing rooms.

Fitz eyed her cautiously as her face fell and she whispered a faint “ _no..._ ”. She ran towards the door and he followed her, his brow creasing with every step.

On the door was a notice from the city’s leisure department, and since there wasn’t any indication as to whom it was addressed, they both opened it. Jemma held the paper with shaking hands as Fitz scooted closer, his head over her shoulder, one hand on the small of her back. He felt like she was so unsettled she might fall and shatter into pieces.

They both read silently, and once she was finished, Jemma handed him the paper.

“There you go. I knew it, Fitz! I knew it was a bad thing! Oh, what will Hunter think? It was such a stupid mistake!” she wailed.

“Wait—Jemma, no! It wasn’t… let’s be honest, Hunter would have done much worse. Jemma,” Fitz insisted. “Jemma, look at me.” She lifted her reddened eyes to meet his. “Jemma, it’s going to be fine. You saw what the paper said!”

“They’re coming for an inspection, Fitz!”

“Yeah, but it’s not because of you! Look here, it says that they got a complaint from a concerned citizen, saying that they had seen a rat and were suspecting an infestation. You’re not a rodent, now, aren’t you?” he joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“Oh, Fitz, that is obviously Quinn’s doing. He found out that he was in the wrong, so he thought of the best possible way to get us in trouble.” Jemma went on.

“Jemma, we don’t have to worry, because we don’t have any rats!” Fitz insisted.

“Rats? Where?” echoed Hunter sleepily, coming towards them. His t-shirt was inside out.

Fitz handed him the letter. Hunter took it, scratching at the stubble on his cheek. He let out a long, loud yawn, then started to read it. Fitz and Jemma were both waiting anxiously for his reaction, but he just handed the sheet back to them with a huff.

“Guess we’ll have to be careful today, kids. I don’t know where the fuck they think they’ll find rats… but they’ll probably inspect everything we do. Let’s just make sure we follow the rules.” He walked towards the cash register. “Ugh. We have twenty minutes before the clients come in. Let’s make sure everything’s alright.”

Jemma and Fitz shared a glance, then Jemma murmured in Hunter’s direction “Your shirt is on the wrong side.”

They heard a muffled “Fucking hell” in the changing rooms.

 

The inspector wouldn’t show up until ten o’clock, and they already had a handful of clients in the pool by nine. Mike Peterson and his child were playing together in the shallow part of the pool, and Fitz could recognize Koenig on the diving board.  There was a young teenager with curly black hair on the side of the pool, dipping her toes in the water in an extremely dignified way. Fitz smiled from the lifeguard’s chair. “It’s not that cold, you’ll see! Get in, then it’ll be over,” he joked. The teen looked at him with her big brown eyes and huffed elegantly. “I’ll get in when I please,” she drawled.

Fitz sat back on his chair. He could see Jemma frantically putting everything in its place. Hunter had gone a while ago to buy a new fire extinguisher so that they were in the norms. Come to think of it, it was probably his car that Fitz could hear pulling over in front of the pool. He concentrated back on the swimmers.

Hunter made Jemma and Fitz switch shifts. He knew that Jemma was extremely anxious about the inspector, so to make her concentrate on the simple, repetitive task of watching the swimmers would be better. Fitz would be on the ground to help with anything that could happen, and Lance would be the one to welcome the inspector and make him visit.

It was fifteen minutes to ten and the inspector was nowhere to be seen. Fitz decided to stop pacing around and approached the teenager, who now had her legs in the water and sat on the side of the pool.

“Hey, what’s your name?” he asked, hoping to stir a conversation.

“Raina,” the girl answered without looking at him at all.

Fitz stayed a few seconds, then seeing that he obviously wasn’t of any interest to her, he went back to pacing.

Soon after he left, she lifted herself and slid into the water. He suppressed a smirk.

 

Jemma had deliberately left her watch in her locker, knowing that if she had it right now, she wouldn’t be able to stop checking it. She took a deep breath through her nose and rubbed her eyes for a second. There weren't many people today, and the ones who where there weren't doing anything exciting. If she wasn’t so anxious, she might have felt bored.

She smiled as she observed Mike bringing his son in a slightly deeper part of the pool. The man still had his feet on the ground, but Ace was clearly finding the experience very thrilling. As Jemma turned her head to scan the other swimmers, she saw that the teenager had also found interest in them, observing the two with something akin to scientific curiosity.

Jemma’s eyes followed her as she got out of the water and walked to the side of the pool, where grass was poking out of the fence. The teen plucked a few things from the ground, then inspected them carefully. She discarded a few, then walked towards the side of the pool where Mike and his son were now swimming. Jemma squinted as the girl crouched behind Mike, holding what seemed to be a little pine needle. Mike wasn’t looking, but Ace saw Raina’s hand approaching his dad’s floating aid in a dangerous fashion, and he opened his mouth and pointed at the girl.

Mike spun around, and saw what Raina was trying to do. He grabbed Ace and spun around quickly.

“You prickly, thorny idiot, why did you do that?!” he snapped, and Jemma saw the girl throw away the needle nonchalantly.

“I didn’t mean any harm,” she purred.

“What? You… get the hell away from us, you understand? If I see you try something like this again, I’ll tell the lifeguards. Do you understand?” Mike shouted, but the girl was already walking towards the other end of the pool. Jemma sighed. This chair gave her a good view on the swimmers, but it made intervention difficult. She’d make sure to keep an eye on that girl.

 

Hunter heard Mike Peterson yelling as he let the inspector in, and prayed internally that there wasn’t anything bad happening in the pool right now. The last thing they needed was an unsatisfied client right now. He gestured discreetly to Fitz to go see what was going on and led the inspector to the machinery room.

The man was tall and had deep, dark skin. Fitz had stolen a glance as he had introduced himself, showing his badge and saying that his name was Ray Holt and that he was working for the Leisure Department. He stood like a statue, and Fitz was happy that Jemma wasn’t there to see it… because that man looked like the perfect incarnation of a strict, scary inspector.

Hunter talked a bit with the man, and Fitz could even hear him give a low chuckle as he walked through the door. The lifeguard looked up at Jemma to see that she was looking at Mike Peterson and his son, smiling. She seemed to have a soft spot for those two, and they were growing on Fitz as well.

He leaned against the fence and crossed his arms, scanning the side of the pool lazily. Everything should be fine; they obviously had no rats, and the three of them had made sure that everything followed the rules. Now all they had to do was do their job.

Which Fitz shouldn’t have said so confidently, because when he glanced at Koenig, the man was flexing his knees on the side of the pool, eyeing the water defiantly. Fitz shook himself. No, there was no way that he’d… No. Fitz had been clear enough. If the man made another cannonball, he would not be allowed in the pool again.

Gulping slightly, he decided to trust the man’s judgement. He risked a look at Raina, who was on the side of the fence, picking pine needles from the grass. When he turned his head back to Koenig, he let out a whimper.

He had to watch helplessly as Koenig sprinted towards the water and cannonballed with a “WhEEEE!”. That was it, Fitz thought. He wouldn’t get away with it this time. It was a shame, really, because apart from that, Koenig seemed like a nice person.

“Excuse me, mister Koenig. A word, please,” he said when the man’s head popped out of the water.

Koenig grinned at Fitz, oblivious to his frustration, and hauled himself out of the water. When he arrived near the lifeguard, he presented his hand to shake and said “Hey, have we met?”

Fitz gave him an incredulous look, so the man’s smile faded a bit and he removed his hand. “Um, I thought, since you know my name…” he added.

“I know your name, sir, because you’ve been coming here every day since the pool opened. And every day, you’ve done the same, extremely dangerous thing. So I’m here to tell you that you have to leave the pool for the day and that you will not be allowed…”

“Wait, whAT?” Koenig protested. “Hold on, hold on. You’re expelling me because I did something wrong – I’m not even sure what – and… what was the thing about coming here every day? It’s the first time…”

“Running towards the pool and making a cannonball? You don’t remember doing that yesterday? Because I remember, I warned you. I distinctly remember telling you that if you were ever to do that again, you would be revoked your access to the pool.”

Koenig seemed puzzled for a moment, then understanding lit up his eyes. He held up his hand and erupted in a fit of giggles.

Fitz’s anger was increasing. That man was obviously not taking him seriously, and it was a bit insulting. He was about to start talking, but Koenig lifted his other hand in a “stop” motion, trying to regulate his breathing to be able to speak properly. Once his giggle fit had ended, he took a deep breath and wiped a tear from his eye.

“Oh, oh this is good. Okay. I’m really sorry, but hear me out. What did you think my name was?”

“Koenig,” Fitz snapped. “Billy Koenig. Or Eric, I don’t remember.”

“Wrong!” Koenig revealed, before giggling again. When he saw that Fitz was not laughing, he calmed himself down and continued. “My name’s Sam.” He scuttled towards his backpack and rummaged through it, then got out his wallet and showed Fitz a picture. “See, that’s Eric, that’s Billy and that’s me. We’re triplets!”

Fitz stared, dumbfounded. Koenig continued: “I remember Eric went to the pool on Monday, then I suppose Billy went on Tuesday, and here I am. And we all used to cannonball into our granddad’s lake, so it doesn’t surprise me that they both tried that out here. I figured that since there weren’t many people in the water today, it wouldn’t do any harm to jump… I’m sorry, and I’ll remember that it’s not allowed next time.”

Fitz was glancing at the picture, then at Koenig, then again at the picture. It made sense… “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have gotten mad…” Fitz murmured.

“Well,” started Koenig, “You couldn’t have known. Besides, I’d be mad too if I had warned a person twice and they kept doing the thing.”

Fitz looked miserable. He had, after all, threatened to ban an innocent client, and been very rude on top of that. What if the man wrote a complaint to the Leisure Department? But Koenig interrupted his train of thought with a slap on the back. “Hey, buddy. It’s okay. We all make mistakes. Besides, that’ll make a funny story to tell.” And he went to put the wallet back in his pile of clothes.

Soon, Hunter got back outside with the inspector, who was scribbling something on his pad with an impassive look. The head lifeguard nodded at Fitz and gestured towards the cash registrar, and Fitz gladly took the hint. He still felt bad about haranguing Koenig.

 

There really weren’t many people today, Fitz thought as he installed himself at the cash register. Maybe it was because the air was slightly more chilly than the other days… He knew it wouldn’t make a good impression to the inspector if he got his book out, so he proceeded to lean back in his chair and hum gently to himself.

A few minutes after, he heard a barking noise in the park, and the slamming of what would be Skye’s little feet on the concrete. He smiled to himself and leaned over the counter.

“Hey Skye! How are you today?” he called.

“I have the money!” Skye exclaimed, then stopped to put the strap of her large backpack back into place.

Fitz was confused for a second, before Skye waved a small stack of one dollar bills. She wanted to go to the pool!

“Oh, and I have a question,” she went on, laying four one-dollar bills on the countertop. “Does Ward need a swimsuit too or is it okay because he has fur?”

Fitz shot the dog a surprised look, and Ward cocked his head and licked his nose. Then, bemused, Fitz gave two of the bills back to Skye.

“I’m sorry Skye, but dogs aren’t allowed in the swimming pool. I should have mentioned that yesterday,” he explained.

“Why?” Skye insisted. Ah, the inevitable question.

“Well, you see, humans don’t have a lot of fur, but dogs do, and sometimes they lose a bit of fur in the water and it gets stuck in our filters. That’s one of the reasons why dogs aren’t allowed in pools in general,” he justified.

“But then Ward can stay on the side of the pool!” Skye suggested.

Fitz shook his head. “I’m sorry Skye. I know Ward is a good dog, but sometimes, even good dogs get scared, and they can bite or frighten the other swimmers. Dogs are never allowed in a pool’s enclosure. But he can stay with me here if he wants; I’ll watch over him!”

Skye seemed to hesitate for a moment, then took back the two dollar bills. She turned to Ward and crouched in front of him, hugged his neck and explained: “You’re going to stay here with Leopold, and you take care of him. And if you want to see me jump in the water, you can look through the fence, okay?” she turned to Fitz. “He is allowed to look through the fence?”

Fitz beamed. “Of course he is! Now go get changed, and have fun!”

“Okay, bye! Bye, Ward!” she waved, then scampered inside.

The dog looked at Fitz for a moment, then blinked and trotted towards the fence.

 

Jemma had been watching the same five swimmers for awhile now. It was already eleven o’clock, and nobody else had shown up, so she was very happy to see Skye in her tiny blue swimsuit, and grinned as the little girl waved at her.

While Skye was busy arranging her things on the side of the fence, Jemma looked at the teenager with dark curly hair. She had kept away from Mike and his son, but was now plucking things in the grass again. In fact, Jemma couldn’t help but feel bad for the kid. She mustn’t have been more than thirteen years old: normally, at that age, the kids were spending summer in a camp, or hanging out with friends. Raina seemed pretty lonely.

Which was another reason why Jemma was glad to see Skye arriving. She thought that despite the age difference, the two might get along, at least for today. They could both use a friend.

Mike and Ace were taking a break, huddled in their towels on the side of the pool, and Koenig seemed okay on his own, so Jemma took a moment to look at Raina. The girl lifted her head from what she was doing and eyed Skye curiously. She got up and walked towards the little girl.

“Is that your pet?” Jemma heard Raina say in her soft, suave voice.

“Yeah! His name is Ward. You can touch him if you like, but you have to do it through the gate, cause he can’t come inside” Skye chirped.

Jemma smiled and reported her attention to Koenig. She was glad they got along.

Soon, Raina had invited little Skye to play with her in the water. The teen was strange; she carried herself in such a dignified way, yet her voice was extremely soft, convincing. Jemma wondered what she’d grow up to become.

She saw Hunter poking his head out of the door and waving at her. She frowned, and he looked behind, then jogged towards her. “He’s here, he’s almost done,” he whispered.

“Who?” Jemma replied, confused.

“The inspector!” Hunter squeaked, his eyes on the door. “I’m supposed to be with him. He’s going to come take a sample of the water soon, so look concentrated and make sure nobody pees in it until then,” he urged. Then, he gave her a toothy grin and jogged back towards the changing rooms.

“Right," Jemma thought. She had completely forgotten about the inspector. That was probably for the best: Hunter was handling it well, it seemed. When she turned her head towards the pool, though, she noticed that Skye and Raina were… well, they were playing a weird game. Jemma couldn’t quite understand what it was, but it involved Raina telling Skye what to do, and Skye shaking her head and saying ‘no. “I hope they’re not quarrelling,” she mumbled, then scolded herself. “Jemma Simmons, if you don’t let them figure this out by themselves, they’re never going to learn anything.” So she concentrated on Mike and Ace, who had gotten back inside the water.

She stole a glance towards where Hunter had disappeared with the inspector earlier. She shouldn’t be nervous, everything was going smoothly until then. But then she heard a muffled shout.

Her head spun back to the pool, where she saw Raina splashing Skye in the face with water. Skye wasn’t that good of a swimmer, so she was trying not to choke, but water got in her mouth and she was getting panicky. Jemma gave a sharp whistle and shouted “Girls! Stop this now!”

She heard a loud bark and recognized Ward’s large brown shape jump and growl. Raina hadn’t stopped splashing, so Jemma whistled again and prepared to get down, when out of the corner of her eye, she saw the dog run towards the fence and hop right above it, only to land with a loud ‘SPLOOSH’ into the shallow water. She let out a shriek and made her way down the chair, and she saw Fitz had heard what was happening and was coming around to help. Ward kept swimming towards Skye and was managing to bark and growl very menacingly.

Raina had stopped, and Jemma could see that she was afraid. The dog didn’t seem like he would bite, because when she got away he stayed near Skye, who was as surprised as everyone else to see him there.

“Raina, Skye, get out of the water now!” Jemma yelled, and the two girls obeyed.

Which was, obviously, the moment that Hunter and the inspector chose to come in. Raina was crying, Skye was clearly shaken and still coughing from the water in her throat. Mike, Ace and Koenig had gotten out of the water too.

Between two coughs, Skye looked at Jemma and Hunter, then let out a quiet gasp. “Ward,” she said, “You can’t be in the water!” and she proceeded to get back in the pool to help her dog get out.

“What is happening here?” the inspector bellowed.

“Skye, don’t go back in the water!” Jemma shouted, but at no avail: the kid was already hauling her massive hound out of the pool.

Fitz came closer to help her out, and once she had her two feet on the ground, he did the only sensible thing to do: he grabbed the dog by the collar and tried to drag him away from the pool. Of course, Ward was enormous, and Fitz, well… wasn’t. The dog growled, wanting to stay near Skye, but Fitz insisted. His feet near the side of the pool, in a precarious position with very little balance, he tried to push the dog away.

Ward turned around to face Fitz and gave him a small nudge with his nose: the lifeguard lost what little balance he had left and flailed his arms desperately, falling into the pool. Jemma’s reflexes kicked in, and she grabbed Fitz’s hand… underestimating the pull of his weight. They both tumbled into the water with a fatal “splosh”.

Jemma’s head got out of the water just in time to hear the inspector mutter “Dogs aren’t allowed in pools” and see him scribble something on his pad, then collect a bit of water in a test tube and walk away, Hunter on his heels.

 

Fitz and Jemma hauled themselves out of the pool, dejected. This didn’t look good.

“Hey, are you guys okay?” asked Mike, while Koenig went to get his towel to dry the lifeguards. Skye led Ward outside the enclosure, ordering him to stay, and Raina apologized for her behaviour, before disappearing in the changing rooms. Hunter seemed to be busy with the inspector.

Mike looked at the others and said “You know, guys, if you want, you can take a few minutes to yourself, and we’ll just stay out of the water for that time.”

“You could even close the pool for the afternoon!” Koenig suggested.

Jemma gave them a teary smile. “No, we have to keep this going. In fact, I think we’ll decide what we do when Hunter comes back…”

Suddenly, they heard a loud noise in the lifeguard’s locker room. It sounded like Hunter was shouting. Or… crying. As the noise got closer, Fitzsimmons worried about what Hunter would say to them. Would he be mad? Or worse, disappointed…

Part of Jemma wasn’t surprised at all, though, when it was a teary Hunter that came out of the locker room, grabbing his stomach. He was laughing so hard he couldn’t speak for a minute.

When they realized he was crying of merriment, the rest of the swimmers shared a collective sigh of relief. Mike nudged Skye, and them and Koenig went away to chat on the side of the pool, leaving the three lifeguards to sort this out alone.

Hunter was hysterically sobbing in Jemma’s arms, and to be honest, she didn’t know what to do with a crying boss, so she and Fitz just awkwardly patted his back until he regained a bit of composure. Then, when he could breathe enough to talk, he sputtered: “You… you two, you fell, and the dog…” and erupted in another fit of laughter.

Fitz hesitated, then spoke: “So, it wasn’t that bad? Do you think the inspection…”

Hunter interrupted him: “It was _terrible_!” He shook his head, then repeated: “It was _terrible_. The inspector, he was pretty cool, but then, you two, and the _dog_ , and…” He wiped a few tears away from his cheeks, then he beamed at them and giggled. “ _Terrible_. I haven’t laughed like that in _ages_. If I die tomorrow, I die happy,” he sniffed.


	6. Chapter 6

The next day dragged on with little customers as well. The usual ones were there: Koenig had brought his brothers, and the three of them shook the hand of a very baffled Fitz. Mike and Ace were swimming together in the nearly empty pool. Raina was nowhere to be found.

Hunter didn’t seem too bothered by yesterday’s awful performance for the inspection, and Jemma couldn’t understand how light-heartedly he was taking all of this. He did have more experience than them in public pool matters, of course, but she would have expected him to be a little worried, after coming down from yesterday’s excitement.

That was another thing: Jemma was very good at worrying, especially over things that were done and behind her; and in the last few days, she couldn’t imagine a day where she hadn’t terribly embarrassed herself. On the first day, there was mister Fury in his speedo, who hadn’t come back yet – out of indignation she supposed, though it had barely been a week. Then, there was Quinn; she had reacted in a terribly unprofessional way, and even though she had found support from everyone who mattered (her boss, the other customers and her boyfriend), she still couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling she had about all of this. And Quinn had probably been the one to ask for the inspection out of petty revenge, and she had made a complete fool of herself during that day. She should have known that she wouldn’t be strong enough to keep Fitz from falling; she’d reacted with pure instinct.

All this only proved her that this job was far from what she’d expected, and Fitz probably felt the same too – only he hadn’t done as many mistakes as she had. He probably had his place here more than her. Come to think of it, Jemma wasn’t sure she was a good fit for this job. Sure, she could watch over swimmers, but working at a pool required so much more customer service than she’d thought, and she obviously had a problem with that.

While Jemma was seriously considering resigning, Fitz was trying to concentrate on the swimmers, but found that he simply couldn’t. His mind kept wandering back to his Jemma and how she’s sounded unsure of herself when they had talked about the job yesterday. Fitz knew how she wore her heart on her sleeve, and how she was anxious about how people would view her, and he also knew how bad she felt about her first few days at the pool.

But what Jemma couldn’t see was that everything she’d done so far was out of good intentions. She’d only wanted to do her job well, and Fitz knew that people could see that. Hunter knew very well how, with a few weeks of practice and getting used to the job, Jemma could become an excellent pool lifeguard, kind and hard-working. Fitz knew how good his girlfriend was, and he could only admire her.

What he wasn’t so sure about were his own good intentions. He knew that he didn’t mean any wrong, but… the Koenigs, for instance. He’d let impatience get the better of him and he’d gotten mad at an innocent customer –no, two innocent customers. Well, they weren’t innocent, but that didn’t justify how vehemently he’d given out to them. And the Koenigs had been so easy going with it, so forgiving, and Hunter hadn’t even heard about what happened, but Fitz knew that customer service wasn’t for him. He’d thought, when he first got this job, that it would be just looking over swimmers, with the added bonus of Jemma being nearby. Now, he wasn’t sure that he belonged here. “Maybe,” he thought, “I should start looking for a job in retail.”

Hunter still couldn’t look his two lifeguards in the eye. First of all, because when he did, he thought about how they’d flapped their arms in the air in a desperate attempt not to fall, and that guaranteed at least a snort. Maybe tomorrow he’d be over the hilarity of the situation, but right now, he needed to focus on something else. In this case, the cash register.

But since yesterday evening, there was a hint of uneasiness in the way they stood, and Hunter thought he knew why that was. The poor idiots were doubting that they were a good fit for the job. And Hunter knew that feeling. He’d been through that uncertainty too.

But rarely in all his (granted, not that long) career, had he seen two lifeguards as willing to learn and improve themselves as those two. He was glad he’d fallen on them, and glad that his gut feeling had been right. The last guy he’d hired on a whim, Mack, had sorely disappointed him. But those two little Brits had potential, and he would be damned if he was going to let them go.

Hunter put his feet on the front desk and heard Ward howling in the park, followed by a loud hysterical giggle from Skye. The little girl had come to see them this morning, because she’d forgotten her sock in the changing rooms, and she’d told Hunter in a soft whisper that she didn’t like the pool that much. Hunter shrugged: if his first experience swimming had been nearly choking, then being given out to because your giant dumb dog had jumped over the fence into the pool with you, he didn’t think he’d be eager to come back either.

 

Closing time came. The clients were progressively heading to the changing rooms, the lifeguards had found a swimsuit top, a shower cap and a pair of abandoned panties in the changing rooms, and the cash registry added up. A routine day on the job.

Fitz was just about to pick up his bag near the gate when he heard loud, intense barking from the other side of the park. They’d gotten used to hearing Ward howl, but this wasn’t the same kind of playful bark. It was almost panicky.

Fitz cocked his head to see over the fence, but the barking stopped for a short moment. He shrugged and bent down to tie his shoelace when the barking started again, extremely loud and insistent.  Jemma and Hunter got out of the office, looking at Fitz like he was the one barking.

“Hey, I’m not doing anything! I think Ward probably got scared,” he suggested. But Hunter gave a sharp shake of his head and hurried towards the sound.

“Ward never gets scared. Something must have happened,” he declared.

The three lifeguards headed towards the sound of the bark, only to hear it getting closer and closer, and ended up meeting the dog halfway through the park. Ward was extremely excited; he barked at them, but never growled. In fact, it was like he was trying to tell them something.

“Calm down, buddy,” Fitz began. “Calm down. Nothing’s gonna hurt you.”

But Jemma shook her head and took Fitz by the shoulder. “He’s not barking because he’s scared. Look at his tail,” she pointed at the dog, “he’s not being aggressive.”

“Skye’s not with him,” Hunter pointed out.

Fitz stole a glance around the park; the little girl was nowhere to be found. He looked down at Ward, who was still barking insistently, and said “Where’s Skye?”

The dog whined and barked again, then started running towards a bush. They followed him only to see that Skye was lying on the ground, shaking as if in a trance.

“Epilepsy,” Jemma diagnosed while Ward kept barking.

“She’s having a seizure,” Fitz added. They looked at each other and gave each other a sharp nod.

“Hunter,” Jemma said, “go get your watch and time the seizure. Fitz, take care of her neck.”

Hunter hurried away while Fitz helped Jemma untie the bead necklace that Skye was wearing a little too close to her skin. He took off his shirt and put it under Skye’s head, while Jemma pushed branches and rocks away from her.

“Jemma, get on the other side. Let’s roll her on her left,” Fitz urged, worry creasing lines into his forehead.

They turned the child on her side and stood back a little, watching Skye shake insistently. Jemma inhaled sharply as the little girl started shaking even harder and scooted away from the makeshift pillow that was Fitz’s shirt. Fitz grabbed the fabric and bundled it up again to put back under her head when Hunter threw his own shirt at him, running towards them. “Two minutes in!” he yelled. “Add my shirt under her head!”

They put the pillow back under Skye’s head, and the shaking subsided a bit, but didn’t stop. Jemma looked at Fitz with worry. “Do you think she’s been there for long before we came?” she asked.

Hunter nodded. “The barking started at least a minute before we came, so assuming Ward is a seizure alert dog and knows what he’s doing, it’s now been…” Hunter checked his timer watch, “nearly four minutes. That’s a long seizure, especially for a little kid.”

Fitz looked at Skye, who was still trembling and tense. The seizure seemed to have calmed down. “I hope it’s nearly over. More than five minutes and she has to be sent to the hospital.”

Jemma nodded and looked down at Skye, only to let out a small gasp. “Fitz. When she fell, there was a rock under her head and she was…” Jemma stopped.

“…risk of head injury. I’m calling the ambulance,” Hunter completed. He handed Fitz the timer watch and took out his phone, which he had seemingly grabbed with his watch earlier.

Fitz looked at the watch and frowned even deeper. It now indicated five minutes and twelve seconds. Skye was shaking with renewed intensity.

Jemma delicately moved the pillow so that it would shield Skye better from the rocks, and Fitz could see that she was about to cry. He himself was nearly shattering under the pressure of the little girl’s life being put in their inexperienced hands.

“She’ll be fine,” Jemma whispered. “She has a seizure alert dog, this can’t be the first time it happens to her. And we’re here to help her, and the ambulance is coming.”

“She’ll be fine,” Fitz repeated, and reached out his hand to hold Jemma’s, twining his fingers around hers above Skye’s frail shaking body.

Nearly a minute later, Skye had almost completely stopped shaking, and Fitz and Jemma’s hand were resting on her shoulders. The little girl’s hands were cold.

When Skye regained control of herself, she was exhausted and lost. She looked like she had awakened from a terrible nightmare, and her speech was slurred.

The little girl tried to talk, but she couldn’t quite get the words out, and Jemma settled for comforting the kid, who she knew had no idea of what just happened. She put a hand on Skye’s back.

“It’s alright, Skye. We’re here. You’re safe, and we’re going to take care of you. The ambulance is going to come and help.”

At mention of the ambulance, Skye recoiled and shook her head slowly but with force. Her eyes were shut tight. Fitz couldn’t stop himself; he took the child in his arms, holding her head carefully, and hugged her delicately. “It’s going to be okay, Skye. We’ll stay with you. I’m going to stay with you, okay? You’ll be all right.”

The kid buried her nose in Fitz’s armpit and whimpered, but she gave a small nod. Ward, who had been quiet for a while now, whined loudly and reached for his human’s face, licking her cheek. Skye muttered something and pushed the dog away gently, and Ward sat back on the ground. She yawned and closed her eyes, nesting in Fitz’s neck.

Jemma’s brow furrowed. “Risk of head injury, Fitz. You can’t let her fall asleep.”

“Right, that’s true,” Fitz muttered. “Hey Skye?” he asked the kid, hoping to get her attention. “Hey, Skye?” he repeated, louder this time, and the child slowly turned her head to look at him with weary eyes. “I’m going to carry you in my arms and we’re going to go meet the medics, okay?”

She nodded, and he went on immediately to keep her awake. “Okay. So I’m going to ask you a few questions, and all you have to do is say yes or no. Got it?”

Skye made a noncommittal sound which Fitz assumed was meant to be a yes. He hauled himself up with Jemma’s help, Skye still in his arms. “So, Skye,” he began. “Ward is a good dog, huh?”

The little girl hummed. “Okay. That was a test. Now, can you tell me, have you ever been in an ambulance before?”

She nodded, and Fitz started walking towards the street, where he could see Hunter waiting for the ambulance, scribbling information on what just happened so that the medics knew where to begin. “Did something like this ever happen before?” Fitz asked Skye, who he felt getting weak in his arms. She nodded. “Okay. Well, does your mom know about this?” he asked calmly, hiding his worry behind a soothing voice.

The little girl nodded again. “Okay, Skye, I need you to keep your eyes opened”, he insisted, seeing that she was getting sleepy again. “I know you can do this, okay, but you need to be strong. Keep your eyes opened.” She obeyed, but Fitz could see that he’d worried her.

“Okay,” he started again, careful to keep his voice calm. “Now, can you tell me what your favourite fruit is?”

Skye didn’t answer, just looked at him with confused eyes.

“Fitz! That’s not a yes or no question!” Jemma whispered behind him.

“Oh, right. Silly me,” he smiled at Skye, rolling his eyes. “Uhm. Hold on, I’ll find something else.” He could see the ambulance coming around the corner, and he smiled at Skye. “Can you hear the ambulance, Skye? That means people are coming to help. We’re going to go to the hospital and then you can sleep. Okay?”

Skye nodded, and Fitz saw Hunter talking to the medics. He hugged Skye a little tighter and told her calmly “One of us is going to come with you to the hospital. You’re going to be safe and we’re going to take care of you.” Then, he turned to Jemma. “I think you should be the one to go with her. Feminine presence being reassuring and all.” But Skye heard, and shook her head vehemently. “Leopold,” she muttered, and hugged him closer.

Jemma smiled at the both of them. “She’s already in your arms, and she doesn’t seem to want you to go away. You should go.”

They put Skye on a stretcher with the help of two medics, and Fitz went inside the ambulance. He could only steal a quick glance towards Jemma before the truck’s doors closed.

 

Hunter and Jemma finished closing the pool down, knowing that they had done everything they could to help and that Skye’s well-being was now in more experienced hands. Jemma was very relieved, though, that Fitz had gone with the kid. She knew how calming his presence was, even though he had no idea of it, and she couldn’t think of a better person for that kind of job. Skye was in good care.

When they finished up and locked the door to the pool, Hunter offered Jemma a ride to the hospital. She accepted gratefully, and they were silent on the way there. Once they arrived at the hospital, they got cleared to get in and talk to Fitz, who was waiting outside Skye’s room.

“She’s asleep now,” he told the two as means of greeting. They nodded and waited for more details. “No sign of brain injury, except, well…” Fitz turned to look at the door of her room. “She has a file here at the hospital. Apparently, our little Skye’s actual name is Daisy Johnson. She suffers from a traumatic brain injury that triggers epileptic seizures once in awhile.” He paused for a few seconds, letting the news sink in, then continued. “She’s on medication, but apparently hasn’t been taking it for a few days now, and that’s what must have triggered the seizure. They called her mom, she should be here any second now.”

They sat a few minutes in silence, outside the little girl’s room, when they heard a woman speaking to a doctor. They could see both adults walking hurriedly through the corridor, and the woman was apparently insisting on something. She had the same almond eyes than Skye had. As they walked closer, they could hear the conversation.

“What do you mean, I can’t see my daughter?” the woman repeated.

“She’s sleeping, Jiaying. You can see her when she wakes up,” the doctor reassured as they arrived in front of Skye’s door. “Besides, she’s fine. She had a very long seizure, and that’s why she needs to stay here for a little while. But,” the doctor said as they turned towards the three lifeguards, “apparently those were the three people who made sure she got to the hospital safe. I believe they also helped her during her seizure. So I’ll leave the four of you here for a little while, but I’ll be back soon, and then I’ll open the door so you can talk to Daisy.”

The doctor walked away. The woman, Jiaying, turned to face the three of them, and suddenly she burst into tears.

“I’m so sorry,” she managed to say, “thank you so much. I just can’t imagine what would have happened if you hadn’t been there. Cal and I are working so many hours, and we’re never there when it really matters, and she’s so small, and so alone…”

Jemma looked at Fitz, then Hunter (who gave her a very not helpful shrug of his shoulders), and moved forward to comfort the woman. “Your dog warned us as soon as it happened, and we weren’t far away. Skye… Daisy always plays near the pool, and if anything ever happens again, we won’t be far.”

The woman managed to smile a bit. Then, her husband arrived in a nurse uniform and hugged her tight. He didn’t seem to notice the three young adults. Jemma returned next to Fitz and Hunter, and with a nod, the three of them decided to leave.


	7. Epilogue

Hunter dropped Jemma and Fitz back home and before they left, he gave them a few encouraging words. In fact, both young adults now felt much more useful now that they had taken care of Skye, and now that the little girl was safe, they could appreciate how well their rescue had gone, and how efficiently the three of them had acted under pressure. It was sort of reassuring, to think that they would be able to save someone’s life if something like that was ever going to happen at the pool. Maybe Fitz and Jemma had their place there after all.

“We are still going to call her Skye, though, aren’t we?” Jemma asked as she and her boyfriend walked to work, on Saturday morning, hand in hand.

“Of course we are,” Fitz agreed. “Besides, Daisy sounds a little weird for her. It just…”

“…doesn’t sit right, I know,” Jemma finished.

When they arrived in sight of the pool, they saw Hunter waving at them, jumping from one foot to the other.

“Are we late?” Jemma worried, looking at the time on her phone.

“No,” Fitz answered, incredulous. “I think he’s just early.”

They hurried to meet the man, and looked at him expectantly. He seemed pretty happy with himself.

“Lance, how are you even up?” Fitz teased.

“Don’t mock me, for I am the bearer of good news,” he said solemnly. “Now, I contacted Victoria Hand. She’s the head of the city’s leisure department.” Hunter stopped and looked at both of them, expecting a reaction.

“Yes?” Jemma offered, waiting for him to continue.

“Oh, come on, guys, don’t tell me you missed that one,” Hunter wailed. “It’s her actual name. Victoria Hand, head of the department. Hand, head.”

Fitz sighed. “Look, Hunter…”

“…Shut up, I’m hilarious,” he interrupted. “Now, I contacted Hand a few days ago and she seemed to already know what was up. They’d had problems with that Quinn asshole before, and she knew we didn’t have any rats. She sent an inspector to shut Quinn up, and she said she was sorry that she didn’t warn us beforehand…” he sniggered. “Before-hand.” Jemma rolled her eyes and Hunter continued: “Right. Well, she gave me the results of the inspection this morning, which are surprisingly pretty good. Apparently, our inspector isn’t easily perturbed.”

Jemma and Fitz shared a radiant look, and she went to express her happiness when Hunter motioned for her to stop. “I’m not finished,” he said. “Hand says we’re _head_ ed in the right direction…”

“Oh for goodness’s sake, Hunter” Fitz interrupted, exasperated.

“That wasn’t even intentional! What can I say, I just like trying my hand at puns every now and then. Okay. So basically, she said it’s fine, you’re not going to prison, the pool still works, don’t bring any dogs anymore.”

Fitz looked at Hunter, dubious. “She looked past the dog incident so easily? That’s a bit surprising. I was thinking there would at least be a request to check the fence, or maybe something to keep Ward in leash…”

“Oh, we didn’t tell her it was Ward. As far as she knows, it was just a massive dog, and that doesn’t happen often enough that we’d have to change the fence. Plus, I can say she’s pretty happy with the three of us these days…” Hunter replied.

“Why?” Jemma asked.

“Well,” Hunter began, enjoying his moment of glory, “First of all, she got a few letters. Mike Peterson enjoys the pool a lot, and wants to insist how he’s happy with the new choice of lifeguards…”

 _Oh Mike_ , Jemma thought. _Thank you_.

“And then the Koenigs called to ask for the pool to be opened on Sundays too, because they feel like its excellent service could be opened to more citizens. Apparently they insisted on how our service was excellent,” Hunter continued. “I think they felt bad after seeing the thing with the dog, and you too – god, I still can’t think about it – desperately falling to your deaths in the ocean of chlorine…”

“Right, thank you Lance,” Fitz cut him. “That is very nice of all of them, though. We’ll have to thank them as soon as they come back.”

“But I’m not finished,” Hunter pled. “So Hand also got a letter from Skye’s mom, and she was very happy because our ‘heroic deeds’ are going to appear in the local newspaper. It’s almost as if we planned that as a publicity stunt, for her.”

The conversation was cut short when they heard a familiar bark from around the pool. Fitz tensed up with worry, before seeing Ward galloping towards them, a happy smile on his large face and his pink tongue hanging on the side of his jaw. He was quickly followed by Skye, who was looking far better than yesterday, and very happy to see them.

“Guys!” she yelled.

Jemma patted Ward’s head as he sat next to her, and Skye jumped in Fitz’s arms. He spun her around, then put her back on the ground and let her hug Hunter and Jemma.

“So, Skye, are you feeling any better today?” Jemma smiled.

“Yeah. Mom and dad took the day off, I’m showing them around the park,” she proclaimed. “Are you working at the pool today?”

“Yeah,” Hunter answered. “We’re going to work here every day except Sundays, until the end of the summer!”

Skye looked dejected. “Hey,” Fitz reassured her, “That means we’re not going far and you can still see us every day!”

“I know,” she replied. “It’s just that mom and dad said you could babysit me.”

Jemma and Fitz looked at each other. “Well…” Jemma started.

But Skye’s parents came around the corner at that moment, and the little girl ran to them. “Please, can you ask them?” she told her dad, and he smiled and patted her head, then took her in his arms.

“Hello, I’m Cal,” he said, offering his free hand to the lifeguards. “And this is my wife Jiaying, who I believe you’ve already met.”

They shook their hands and smiled.  Cal continued: “Now I know that you’ll all have to get to work soon, and I know that you’ll be very busy this summer… but our little family was wondering if you would be free to babysit Skye on a regular basis. Jiaying and I are both nurses, and we work a lot during the evening, and I believe that Skye would be a lot safer with one of you guys.” He handed Fitz a small piece of paper. “We could discuss this another day if you want! Here’s our phone number.”

Fitz and Jemma looked at each other, grinning. This was going to be an interesting summer.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Ellen and I have become so close during this, it would be very wrong of me not to include one of my intense and spontaneous declarations of love in here. I love you Ellen, you make me happy, I can't imagine what the last 3 months would have been if you hadn't been there. I've had the time of my life fighting dragons with you too ;)


End file.
